Before the Cowboys can “bust the budget,” they’ll need to balance the books. And there’s an easy way to do it.
Contained in almost every multi-year veteran contract is a clause that gives the team the ability to perform an automatic restructuring, converting the current year’s compensation package into a bonus, with the cap charge spread over multiple years.
Via Todd Archer of ESPN.com, the Cowboys will create $66 million in 2026 cap space by performing an automatic restructuring of quarterback Dak Prescott’s, receiver CeeDee Lamb’s, and guard Tyler Smith’s contracts.
The money doesn’t disappear. It moves to future cap years, where the $66 million in cap dollars will have a smaller relative impact, given that the salary cap increases each and every year.
It’s how most teams create spending money for the upcoming effort to sign new players. It’s a Band-Aid that gets applied annually. For many players, it leads to a significant cap hit once the player is traded or released, or when he retires.
Regardless, that’s how it’s done. Most if not every team does it. It’s one of the realities of opting not to pay as you go, absorbing lower cap numbers in the early years of the deal.
The Cowboys won’t have that luxury with receiver George Pickens unless his franchise tender is replaced with a long-term deal. Until then, he’ll count for $27.298 million against the 2028 cap — a huge increase over his $3.65 million salary and cap number in 2025.
Regardless, the Cowboys need cap space if they’re going to spend in free agency. The Prescott, Lamb, and Smith restructurings are the easiest way to create plenty of it.